Olumide Onadipe: connecting dots
Until August 30, 2018, SMO Contemporary Art
Portrait of a Boy V, 2017.
About
A solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures, reflects over forty of Olumide’s thought-provoking works, which show amazing artistic dexterity, sensitivity, and breadth in tackling urgent issues of global consumerism, against the backdrop of daunting environmental pressures facing millions of Africans everyday.
Movement
His signature sculptures, made from up-cycled and re-purposed plastic shopping bags, water sachets, juice packs, cement bags and newspapers are presented alongside his paintings, which are a continuation of his eclectic palette of rich materiality and textural freedom, showing human forms emerging out of intricate tangles of roots and leaves.
Portrait of a Boy III, 2017.
Twistand Twirl.
Connecting the Dots exposes the different layers of Olumide’s artistic personality, in which he grapples with identity and migration vis-à-vis a universal yearning for global citizenship and communication across a world of bold color. Onadipe’s interpretation of these universal themes are presented through the tying, knotting, folding and melting of vibrant re-purposed materials, used to create striking sculptures with life size legs and geometric shaped torsos and heads. They are a powerful counterpoint to the delicate brushstrokes of his paintings depicting human forms, yearning towards emotional harmony and environmental balance.
Cross Road III
Olumide Onadipe is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose idiosyncratic sculptures are built using diverse media including plastics. He studied arts and education at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and the University of Lagos, where he graduated with a master’s degree in 2012. Olumide is fascinated by textures and environmental themes, and expresses this fascination through playful iterations. He has taken part in group exhibitions in Ghana and Nigeria. Olumide’s major collaborations include an artist residency and Open Studios exhibition with Arthouse Contemporary (2016), Colours of Hope in partnership with the Cancer Foundation (CLWCF), Children Living with Cancer Foundation (2014), American Nigerian Cultural Collaborative Project, US Consulate and Nike Art Gallery Lagos (2013), Beyond Boundaries, Nubuke Foundation, Accra (2013), October Rain, Nike Art Gallery, Lagos (2011) and Dialogue Between Cultures, National Museum Lagos (2009), commemorating 50 years of cultural relations between Nigeria and France. (texts SMO Gallery)